Friday 24 June 2011 19.06 EDT
First published on Friday 24 June 2011 19.06 EDT

In his days at Oakham, Stuart Broad was not a regular captain – but he was always a thinking cricketer. So I think he'll be an excellent appointment for England, provided he is true to himself.

Actually I was at a function on Wednesday night which Stuart's mother also attended. I asked her to pass on a message if she saw him before Saturday, that his last two spells in the Test at the Rose Bowl had been excellent, and he needs to listen to himself more rather than all these other people. She got her mobile phone out to start texting him straight away, so I told her to add good luck from me with the captaincy, and that please, he must just be himself, and that leading by example is important. He texted straight back and told her to get me a pint.

I can still remember vividly a couple of occasions when I was throwing balls at Stuart in the nets. The first time he would have been about 12, and I remember thinking this guy's a natural, with the way he moved to the ball, and timed it beautifully. Then a few years later when he was 15 or 16, we were doing the same again, and he must have missed six balls out of 12. When I asked him what was wrong he said: "It's me grip, sir." It wasn't that, it was just he had too much stuff going through his head, he was thinking too much. As soon as he just concentrated on watching the ball, he was fine.

The thing I always liked about Stuart was the way he worked things out for himself. He didn't captain the first team because there was another guy at the school around the same time who was a natural leader of men. But he would always be thinking batsmen out. He used to come to me in the nets and tell me about different things he was doing with his fingers on the ball to suit different conditions.

He loves the game of cricket, obviously he has got a strong family background in it and he always used to watch the top-class players and learn from them.

I hear a lot of things said about his attitude. Down at Lord's the other week, a couple of old players I know were telling me he's awful with some of his behaviour. I don't agree with that at all. He is a lovely lad, not a nasty piece of work in the slightest. You need a bit of aggression if you're bowling fast, and Stuart is a free spirit – although I must admit that even I was surprised when he threw that ball back at the batsman in the Pakistan game last year. The game's gone a bit crazy, hasn't it?

Frank Hayes spent 15 seasons with Lancashire from 1970-84, and played nine Tests for England from 1973-6. He was director of cricket at Oakham School and worked closely with Stuart Broad throughout his time there, also teaching him physics. David Steele, another former England batsman, was also on the school's cricket staff at the time